StumbleUpon – Android app to stumble upon interesting content on the Web

StumbleUpon is a popular and fun Internet exploration website that presents random websites based upon your own interests. Simply create an account, list your interests and ‘Stumble’ upon interesting content. The website then sends you to various websites that are relevant to you. The StumbleUpon app now lets you do this from your Android device. It boasts a nice user interface and is incredibly easy to use. A great way to explore the web and find new sites and content.

Pros & Cons:

Pros

Great UI!

Fast!

Simple to use and navigate!

Great way to find websites based on your interests!

Cons

Not all websites are mobile friendly and this doesn’t always make for a smooth experience.

Features:

I’ve been using StumbleUpon on and off for a couple of years now. It’s a good time killer and shows you some superb content based on the interests that are important to you. The site, and subsequent app, have undergone a little bit of a regeneration in the past months and both are now slicker than ever. The app really does bring the functionality of the website itself to your mobile device, allowing you to browse relevant content simply and easily.

First you need to log into the service or create an account. Much like any social network you can locate and find friends who also use the service. You can do this via searching Twitter and Facebook or by letting the app scan your contacts list if you wish. Once done you can select as many of your interests as you like. At the time of writing the are 523 interests to select from, so unless you’re into something really weird niche, there should be something for you!

Then it’s time to start stumbling! You can select to ‘stumble’ a particular interest or ‘Stumble All Interests’. At the bottom of the screen you’ll see a series of icons which do different things: stumble (move to the next website), like, dislike, share and comment. Like and dislike are important as it helps personalise your experience further. Liked websites are saved and can be accessed whenever you desire either via the app or through the website as they sync with each other.

There are a few handy options to look out for too. You can select to stumble through either photos, videos, news or that which has been liked by your friends. You can choose to automatically stumble again after liking or disliking, which speeds up the process of discovering new stuff. Additionally, you can do certain things like change your profile picture. All-in-all it’s a very competent and stable app. Perhaps the only issue really is that, browsing the web on a mobile can be quite a sporadic experience at the best of times. Some times the sites adapt to mobile view, other times the text is tiny and you have to adjust. Sometimes there are website errors and things aren’t displayed properly and some pages either no longer exist or have been updated to the point they become irrelevant. These hazards aside, which to be honest the app can do little about realistically, StumbleUpon is a great way to find new things on your Android device and lots of fun to boot.

StumbleUpon – Discovery view 1

StumbleUpon – Discovery view 2

StumbleUpon – Discovery view 3

StumbleUpon – Discovery view 5

StumbleUpon – Front page

StumbleUpon – Favourite interests

StumbleUpon – Profile

StumbleUpon – Menu options

StumbleUpon – Media type

StumbleUpon – Searching for connections

StumbleUpon – Notification settings

StumbleUpon – Preferences

StumbleUpon – Help

Usefulness:

For discovering new websites, videos, pictures, media and other content, StumbleUpon is a unique and superb resource. Community led, it grows every day and you can spend hours and hours playing with it and never hit the same website twice. Great for people who just love the diversity of the Internet… oh and who has time to spare!

Ease of Use:

Really, really simple to use and very straightforward; like, dislike, stumble. That’s pretty much all you need to do.

Frequently Used:

I tend to play with StumbleUpon, either via the web or the app now and again whenever I have time, which sadly isn’t as often as a like. That said, it’s very addictive and easily something you can use frequently for long periods of time.

Interface:

The interface is very good- menus, options, etc. are great. The websites themselves can be sporadic in format but this aside the app looks and performs really well.

AndroidTapp.com Rating

(4.6 out of 5)

Should you StumbleUpon StumbleUpon? StumbleUpon is stable, fast and leads you straight to great content from all corners of the world wide web. Great for exploring, discovering new stuff and then sharing the cool sites, pictures, videos and stories you like. Best thing is, if you ‘Like’ something you can save it for reviewing at any time. A smart app that listens to your preferences and learns on the go, I’d strongly recommend it to anyone who might feel the need to use the Internet for things other than social network status updates and Farmville. Definitely check it out.